The economy is tanking. Too bad the candidates and the reporters who cover them don't know how to talk about it

We don't need a conversation about race. At least not now. What we need is a conversation about money. It becomes clearer by the day that this is not your grandmother's--or even Barack Obama's grandmother's--economic downturn. This time we start with a huge government deficit and record private debt, all run up when times were good and we should have been storing up acorns. This is one that begins with people losing their homes, which is usually the last act of the drama. This is one that is bringing back stagflation--that poisonous combination of economic slowdown and eroding currency we cured...